Estimates for the population of the Caribbean in 1492 have varied enormously and the debate regarding the number of Tainos when Columbus first arrived is unresolved, however, the Tainos were among the most densely settled sedentary societies in the Americas. Regardless of the amount of Tainos living in the New World, the stunning reduction in their numbers was the most shocking repercussion of European contact. Not only did the Tainos suffer, but the invaders were also affected from many epidemic outbreaks. Of the 1500 men traveling from the Old World to the New World, it is said that only about 200 of them were alive a decade later. Typhus was one of the first diseases to be introduced to the New World by the Europeans. This disease is contracted by lice and fleas and had arguably become the first deadly disease in the New World. It had a monumental impact on the lives of Native Americans, Europeans as well as within
Estimates for the population of the Caribbean in 1492 have varied enormously and the debate regarding the number of Tainos when Columbus first arrived is unresolved, however, the Tainos were among the most densely settled sedentary societies in the Americas. Regardless of the amount of Tainos living in the New World, the stunning reduction in their numbers was the most shocking repercussion of European contact. Not only did the Tainos suffer, but the invaders were also affected from many epidemic outbreaks. Of the 1500 men traveling from the Old World to the New World, it is said that only about 200 of them were alive a decade later. Typhus was one of the first diseases to be introduced to the New World by the Europeans. This disease is contracted by lice and fleas and had arguably become the first deadly disease in the New World. It had a monumental impact on the lives of Native Americans, Europeans as well as within